Questions tagged [kings]
Questions relating to the King
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Checkmate with two bishops of same colour
Is it possible to checkmate King with two bishops of same colour in the endgame?.
Is it possible in Chess to get this position in reality?
Position:
King with Two bishops of same colour V/S King.
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Double steel king
For a few examples of a king walk, see Tim Krabbe's site. Do you have an example where both kings go haywire? (Found this own game in my old chess zines, but since the heavy material is just a Q plus ...
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If I remove a king from one side, which side has an advantage?
If I remove a king from one side, which side has an advantage?
Say, the losing condition will change for that side to "no pieces left".
Removing king = one less way to lose, but an extra ...
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What is the required material to force a king move checkmate?
A fun thing to do is to try to achieve specific "achievements" (like these) in real games.
One such achievement is to checkmate with a king move. As the king itself obviously can't deliver ...
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Can a king capture a piece in front of the enemy king [duplicate]
Can I eat a piece in front of the enemy king with my king?
For example: My king was on b6, the enemy knight was on b5, and the enemy king was behind the knight on b4.
So can I capture the knight with ...
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With regards to the safety of the king when castling kingside
Basically, I want to keep my king safe after a kingside castle.
I want to avoid this:
8/8/8/8/8/8/5PPP/2r3K1 w - - 0 1
The configuration is such that none of my pieces can access the f1 square. I ...
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I don't understand why this scenario is checkmate. The black rook cannot move, as it's protecting black king. Can someone explain? See photo [duplicate]
So in this scenario the White Queen put the black king in check, which was then blocked by the black rook. So, how is it that the black queen moving to the position of F1 is considered checkmate? The ...
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Was taking the King ever legal and when did it become illegal? [duplicate]
My sense from a Benjamin Franklin chess anecdote (he takes his opponent's king and says, In America, we take kings!) is that in the 1700s, taking a king if your opponent allowed it, was not illegal or ...
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History of convention for king & queen placement
As stated in this question, the convention that the player with the lighter-coloured pieces makes the first move was not established until fairly late in the 19th century.
Before then, what convention ...
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Is endangering the king a good strategy in some positions?
According to Wikipedia, "any chess piece except the king may be sacrificed". However, I am wondering,if in some rare situations, whether endangering the king can also be a good strategy. ...
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Is this king in checkmate?
Consider this chess board set up:
Is the black king allowed to move to B4 or D4? The knight on C6 would put their white king in check if it moves.
I haven't really read any rules about this so ...
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Developing the king before developing most of your pieces
I saw this opening for the first time and was amazed by the position of the white king.
[FEN "?"]
[startply "21"]
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Bf5 4. h4 h6 5. g4 Bd7 6. h5 e6 7. f4 c5 ...
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Can someone explain why this is checkmate for white? Can a king put another king into checkmate? [duplicate]
I am just learning to play chess so bear with me please :). I understand that the black king cannot move to d8 or f8 because of the white rook, nor d7 or f8 because of the white bishop. But why can it ...
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Series of illegal moves in check
This question falls under FIDE rules (USCF answers/comments welcome).
If I make an illegal move leaving myself and my opponent in check, hit the clock and my opponent misses it and then continues play ...
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If not in check, can a king capture an opposing chess piece?
If a king is not in check, can it capture an opposing chess piece?
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Is this an illegal chess move?
Can the White king move to g2 to checkmate?
8/8/8/8/4Q3/7k/5K2/8 w - - 0 1
1. Kg2
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Is it possible to reach King vs King by moving each piece at most twice?
I'm interested in short games that reach a King vs King endgame. Sam Lloyd reached King vs King after only 17 moves. This has since been improved to 16.5 moves. (See this and that.) One can show that ...
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Why was this stalemate?
I'm new to chess and I don't have much knowledge. But I was playing a game as Black, and I was up by a lot of material and played Nxc4 to capture White's last bishop. The game ended in a stalemate, ...
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I'm new to chess-what should be done here to win the game?
[FEN "8/8/8/8/3k1KB1/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]
I am new to chess and have no clue as to how to win this game. Which moves can be done with what is on the board in order to win? Could anyone explain?...
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The King's ability to promote a piece
If the King makes it to the eighth rank and then back to the first rank, can he promote a piece like a pawn can when it reaches the eighth rank?
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Using a check-preventing piece to protect the checkmating piece
Let's say that a piece is protecting my king from check, i.e. blocked or pinned. For example, my rook is in the way of my opponent's queen in checking my king. Can I checkmate their king with another ...
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King + Queen vs. King + Queen - is this a draw?
Black and white both have one queen and the king. Is this game a draw?
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Endgame theory question
Let us look at an endgame where White has 8 pawns, and Black has the e/d-pawn missing. How can White win this endgame if both sides play perfectly? I am having a little trouble.
user24344
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Checkmate with 3 bishops vs 1 bishop
I know that you can mate with two bishops, but I do not know whether it is possible if White has 3 bishops, and Black has 1 bishop. Is there a general method? If so, is it possible for White to ...
user24344
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What is Indian Castling exactly?
Western castling doesn’t exist in historical Indian Chess (Chaturanga). Instead, in some versions, there is a cool move whereby each king can once in the game make a knight's move.
I read that it is ...
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Is it possible to win with a king and one bishop vs a king?
Are there any possible moves to checkmate a Black opponent if we have a White bishop and king?
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What do you do when you put your king in check and you don’t realise?
I moved my king as I wanted it to be in a safer location and after I did my turn my opponent realised that I put my king in check by accident and as the rules state you cannot put your king in check ...
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Weakness in the Stonewall setup?
In the following setup of Stonewall Attack:
[FEN ""]
1. c3 null 2. d4 null 3. e3 null 4. f4 null 5. Bd3
Wouldn't that make the king vulnerable to diagonal attacks from a bishop or a queen?
If yes, ...
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Looking for practical rulesets for when king promotion is allowed
One consistent feature of chess over the centuries is that each side has had one king only. The rules of promotion had to be tightened up to prevent promotion to a second king.
However, if promotion ...
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How much is the king worth material-wise? [duplicate]
In chess classes, I have been told either that king is worth an infinite amount of points or 10 points. What is the actual material-worth of the king piece?
user20480
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When can king and pawn win against another king and pawn?
Assume such a situation: Both players (Black and White) only have two pieces, that is a King and a Pawn. They have the liberty of placing them according to their wishes on the first row of their side ...
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How to improve king safety
I really wish to improve my chess skills a bit, albeit I am pretty sure that I do not want to become a grandmaster.
One of my problem is my king's safety. Chess is very different from some other ...
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King or Queen-Which piece is which?
I recently bought a set of wooden chess pieces, which I liked for its simplicity.
I'm not sure, however, which one is supposed to be the king and which one is supposed to be the queen.
I would say ...
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Is this the quickest way to clearing the board to two kings? [duplicate]
Is 21 moves the least needed to get board down to 2 kings?
[FEN ""]
1. e4 d5 exd5 Qxd5 Qh5 Qxa2 Qxh7 Qxa1 Qxh8 Qxb1 Qxg8 Qxb2 Qxg7 Qxc2 Qxf8 Kd7 Qxf7 Qxc1 Ke2 Qxd2 Kf3 Qxf2 Ke4 Qxf1 Qxe7 Kc6 Qxc7 ...
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Why isn't the objective of chess to capture the opponent's king? [duplicate]
The objective of chess is to put the opponent's king in a position where it cannot evade capture. Why not go all the way?
Short of tremendous blunders of moving into check, chess would be completely ...
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At what playing strength level should one be able to mate with King Bishop and Knight vs King?
As in title above, at what playing strength level should one be able to mate with King, Bishop and Knight vs King without much effort (with reasonable time left for the game)?
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If a king is in check, can the opponent's king take said king if it puts them in check? [duplicate]
If a king is in check, can the opponent's king take said king if it puts them in check? Someone may think they win, but surely you can’t put yourself in check even if the opponent's king has been ...
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Taking the King while (self) being in check in Blitz Chess [duplicate]
In Blitz (5-min Chess) your opponent puts you in check.
You then make a move that places your opponent in check.
Can your opponent still take your King and claim victory (even though he's in check)?
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Advantage of Diagonal Opposition
Suppose there are only two pieces on the board, black king and white king. Black king is at g7 and white king is at e5. It's Black's turn to move. So in this case white has the opposition. Black now ...
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Capturing the king in a blitz game
In a blitz game, when my king is checked, I make an illegal move that checkmated the opponent and pressed the clock. Then my opponent captured my king and claimed victory. Capturing the king is not a ...
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When to move/centralize king?
[fen "8/3k1ppp/2p2n2/r2p4/p2Pp3/4P3/PP2BPPP/4K2R w - - 0 1 "]
At this position Stockfish has recommended Kd2, and noticing how the black bishops are off the board the king seems safer centralizing ...
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Can white king capture defended pawn by pinned piece? [duplicate]
Black can not move his bishop and can not attack the white king even if the white king captured the black pawn.
Can the white king capture the pawn ?
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Is castling a king move or a rook move?
Most computer chess games consider castling to be a king move. You click on the king and it shows an option to castle.
What do the FIDE's rules say about this though? Is castling a king move, a rook ...
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Number of moves till draw with a king [closed]
5R2/8/6k1/8/4Q3/p7/P7/8 b - - 0 1
If there is a king (black) and one pawn (black) with one queen (white), one pawn (white) and one rook (white) and the pawn (white) is blocking pawn (black).
Can ...
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What happens if me and my opponent only have kings? [duplicate]
So, you can capture any piece in chess except for the king. But what happens if me and my opponent get all pieces captured (except for the king)?
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Only being able to move and not capture while in check
I was playing chess with my Dad, and he was shocked when I made a capture while check. He said that when he learned to play, that, when you are in check, you cannot capture with the king or any other ...
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Could two kings force checkmate against a lone king?
I was looking at minimal combinations of material needed to force checkmate (K+R, Q+B, R+N+N, etc). You end up with a sort of threshold of how much material is needed, and that sort of assigns a ...
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Checkless Chess
Is there any material difference between chess the way it is now versus doing away with check and checkmate and defining victory as simply capturing the opponent's King, assuming an available King ...
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Moving into check?
I will try to be specific. I was playing a game, and the only piece my opponent could move was their king. It was taking forever for me to checkmate the king. I had a queen, two rooks, and a few pawns,...
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Was there ever a time when the goal in chess was to capture the king?
The modern rules of chess, except for the stalemating being a draw, are basically equivalent to a game in which the goal is just to capture the king, not checkmate him. It's plausible that in the ...
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